As a person enjoys reading as a both relaxing and thought-provoking action, I prefer to pick up a book that I find might be one with potential for personal enjoyment or future conversational value. I find reading, either of books, articles, or short stories to be something that, when conversing with someone of similar thoughts and literary interests, gives the both of us a more personal and bonding sense of conversation. I love reading because it gives me a sense of gained knowledge, immediate gratification when finishing a large chunk of text, and a feeling of insight into the world of literature that has such a vast array of other audience members. The point I mean to make is that I use reading as tool to tap into my own self's insight, as well as other's. Reading puts the present, past, and future into the context of many people's lives. For this reason I seem to gravitate toward reading many autobiographies of musicians, artists, and visionary types. I like to know other people's experiences.

Assumptions Based on Reading Oz and the Hunger Games

The audience of a film or novel, especially ones that follow a sort or preliminary set of guidelines to the classic "hero's journey,"will immediately recognize the patterns or events and characteristics of a character when reading or viewing the story. This is the most dominant assumption that I had when approaching The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Hunger Games. Although I had not read the original Oz nor seen The Hunger Games before, I fully expected the template of the typical hero's journey to enlightenment, adulthood, experience, and all assortments of life-lessons to be present as the protagonists, Dorothy and Katniss, conquered each obstacle. Another assumption that I had when approaching Oz was the preconceived notions that I had gathered from the iconic film that I had grown up watching. The more child-like adaptation of the film was very much broken down into a much more gruesome and real version that takes place in the text. As a new viewer to the story of The Hunger Games, I saw the comparisons between the more cynical nature of it and the Oz text more clearly. I assumed that the "classic" childhood story of a young female protagonist would follow a more Oz-like (as in the film version) connotation and set of values, such as "there's no place like home," something that Dorothy never even said.

The Wonderful World of Oz v. The Hunger Games: The Odesseys of Dorothy and Katniss

            When considering the dominant themes that exist in both Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the film adaptation of Suzanne Collin’s best-seller, The Hunger Games, there are confirmable similarities in the structure and implications of both works of fiction; the most noticeable being the classic journey of the protagonist, along which they discover their own sense of identity, societal worth, self-sufficiency, and the ultimate transformation into “maturity” (identified more as a characteristic gained by experience rather than age). There are contrasts between the more aesthetic and idealistic qualities of the utopian Land of Oz and the dismal, dystopian, and caustic image of the Capitol of Panem.

            The primary theme in these stories, as is repeated throughout American literature, is the protagonists’ journey through various obstacles, after which they gain a sense of maturity and understanding of the world around them. This is the case for both Dorothy and Katniss Everdeen. As both young women are suddenly thrust out of their dreary home environments, they are faced with a journey to their ultimate goal: to be sent back to the familiarity of their home and family. The stark contrast between the two girls’ odysseys however, is in their reason for being on their mission to the capital cities of each of their worlds. Dorothy’s mission to get to The Emerald City is so that she may meet the almighty Wizard of Oz and he may grant her wish to return home to Kansas (as well as grant the wishes of the three companions she has made along the way) after she was dropped into Oz by a tornado. Katniss merely wishes to return to her sister and mother in District 12 alive so that they will not starve. She is taken to the Capitol as tribute where she will compete in an arena with her District’s other tribute, Peeta, against the those of the rival Districts.

            Elements of the Capitol in The Hunger Games inarguably mirror those of The Emerald City, although they portray a more despondent, yet almost more believable reality. They both illustrate the so-called “idealistic” and “sophisticated” life-style of the higher societal class in both empires. The Capitol is an enormous city in which the most vain and materialistic masses of people make up the population that watches, fuels, and sponsors this satirical twist of the mainstream media of today that is the “Hunger Games,” during which anything less than putting the mortality of its contestants would not be entertaining enough to be the deciding factor for which Districts receive food. In contrast, The Emerald City is a glistening utopia of many mysterious miracles performed by the “Great and Powerful Oz,” who is exposed by Dorothy to be just an old man behind a curtain. This uncovering of the mystery of Oz and the realization that her hopes were false and that the power to save herself, as is true for the Scarecrow, Tinman and Lion, is what not only shatters the illusions of the childish nature within Dorothy, but what in retrospect indirectly transforms The Emerald City into something not so far from the corrupt centralized hierarchy of the Capitol of Panem. Just as the Districts are suppressed by the control of Panem, the radiating settlements of Munchkins and various peoples are under the tyranny of witches.

            Until the arrival of Dorothy to Oz or Katniss to the Capitol, the illusion of structure and the unquestioned authority of those with higher power, had not been confronted. Katniss, like Dorothy, consistently questions what others have not in order to use the value of creating “entertainment” in the Games to survive. Dorothy is the first to question the power of the Wizard, and subsequently is faced with the reality that he has no more power than she.

            It is the choice of the viewer in the case of both of these stories, to decide the relevancy of these girls’ actions to their own times, as well as our own. The transformation from the despondent gray homes of Dorothy and Katniss, to the colored capital cities can be interpreted as their own personal enlightenments; whether or not this is beneficial is debatable, as the goal in the end for both protagonists is the return home.